1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the present invention generally relate to service provider referral systems and, more particularly, to a method and apparatus for providing information associated with service providers using a social network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Most economies are founded upon a system of providing goods and services in exchange for some form of compensation. Specifically, service providers perform various tasks for electronic world and real world scenarios. The tasks may include configuring a firewall or installing new software in an electronic world or paving a driveway in a real world.
Presently, finding trustworthy service providers can be a lengthy and tiresome process. An individual is more likely to trust and give importance to the opinions of people the individual already knows, for example, people with whom the individual has a relationship rather than complete strangers. Accordingly, the individual may engage in various forms of social networking in an effort to find trustworthy service providers. Social networking is a concept in which the individual's personal network of family colleagues, friends, co-workers, acquaintances and the like is utilized to find more relevant connections, for example, referrals to service provides, leads to new clients or jobs, and the like. To search for trustworthy service providers, the individual asks one or more member of his/her social network to refer the individual to one or more service providers.
Current social networking websites present relationships between the individual and one or more service providers. However, such social networking sites do not provide any insight into nature or details of the relationship. Also, some sites employ corporate entities for referring service providers. Usually, the corporate entity accepts money from the service providers in exchange for the referrals. Furthermore, ratings for service providers are unreliable when they originate from the people with whom the individual does not have a familiar relationship. Overall, the present sites do not represent a real world familiarity between the individual and the service providers.
Therefore, there is a need in the art for a method and apparatus for providing information about service providers using a social network.